Bat.



FATBNI'HD JAN. 6, .1905.

w. RIGHEY. BAT

APPLiOATION FILED IEB. 9, 1904.

TINTTED STATES Patented January 3, 1905.

PATENT OEETEE.

WILLIAM RIOI-IEY, OF OHIOOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO A. Gr. SPALDING & BROS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF BAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,184, dated January 3, 1905.

Application filed February 9, 1904:. Serial Nb. 192,764.

To a, whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM RIOHEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ohicopee Falls, county of Hampden, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bats, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to rackets such, for instance, as are used in playing the game of tennis, and which rackets generally comprise a narrow handle portion and a head portion, the latter in tennis rackets usually having a flat oval shape and being strung with gut or other resilient material.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a frame of considerable strength,

particularly around the portion where the handle and head of the racket meet, in order to enable the racket to resist the transverse strains which occur at this portion. In tennis-rackets the frame or head is generally formed of a single strip, whichis bent into an oval shape, with its two ends extending into the handle, and between these ends, where the head joins the handle, a substantially wedgeshaped piece, usually called the wedge, is inserted and forms, with the frame, the upper portion of the handle. It will be clear that when a ball is struck with the racket the force of the blow will be transmitted from the gut to each side of the strip forming the head and from each side of the strip forming the head to the handle, so that the upper end of the handle and the lower endof the frame or head adjacent to the handle must bear the entire strain due to the transmissionv of this force.

In accordance with the present invention these portions of the racket, and particularly the joint between the upper end of the wedge and the frame-forming strips, are reinforced by suitable pieces of wood or other material lodged within the frame-forming strip and extending into the upper end of the wedge. These reinforcing-pieces preferably extend upward along the frame-forming strip from the point at which the upper edge of the wedge joins them a suflicient distance to materially strengthen them, and they also extend into or through the upper end of the wedge. So far as the joint between the side-forming strips and the wedge is concerned, the reinforcing strips have substantially the function and form of a gusset, firmly binding the frameforming strip to the wedge and, if desired, also firmly binding the ends of the frame strip together and to the wedge.

In the accompanying drawings, in which several ways of embodying the invention in a tennis-racket are illustrated, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, being partly broken away to show a reinforcing-strip. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the plane indicated by the line 2 2 in Fig. 1, showing two such strips to be employed. Figs. 3 and i are perspective views of reinforcing-strips which may be employed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 5 is a detail view partly broken away and showing the preferable form ofreinforcingstrip where the ends of said strip are extended well into the head of the racket to strengthen the side portions of the frame above the wedge-shaped piece, and Fig. 6 is a similar view showing reinforcing-pieces penetrating the wedge for a short distance only.

Both ends of the strip a, forming the head or frame of the racket, are shown to enter, as usual, the handle Z), and the wedge-shaped piece or wedge c is inserted between these ends or side pieces of the frame, as usual. The ends or side pieces of the frame are often made to extend to the very end of the handle, and it will be accordingly understood that by the term end or side pieces of the frame the parts'of the frame-forming strip a adjacent to the wedge c are referred to. In accordance with the invention the ends or side pieces of the frame are split or otherwise slitted near the wedge, and one or more reinforcing-strips d are inserted in the slitted portions and extend into or penetrate the wedge. These reinforcing-strips may extend entirely through the wedge c, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, or they may penetrate it for a short distance only, as shown in Fig. 6. They may be formed in different shapes, as with square corners, Fig. 3, or with rounded corners, Fig. 4E. Preferably, however, they are made to extend well into the side pieces of the frame, as shown in Fig. 5, the upper ends of the strips being considerably above the wedge 0, whereby the portions of the frame or head near the wedge which transmit to the handle the entire force produced by each stroke of a ball, and are therefore subjected to considerable strain, are rendered capable of resisting this strain. By extending the reinforcingstrips into the wedge the frame will not be inclined, as it was under the old glued-joint construction, to pull away from the wedge on account of the strain to which it was subjected. It will be clear, therefore, that besides strengthening the frame the reinforcing-strips serve to bind the frame together, whereby a much stronger and more durable racket is obtained,

' It will be understood that the'invention is not limited to tennis-rackets, as it is obvious that it may be applied in other rackets as well.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a racket, the combination of a. handle, a strip forming the frame of the racket, a wedge between the lower ends of the frameforming strip having a slit in its upper end, the frame-forming strip having slits formed therein extending above the points at which the upper end of the wedge joins the frameforming strip, and a reinforcing-piece inserted in the slit of the wedge and in one of the slits of the frame-forming strip and extending in the frame-forming strip above the point at which the wedge joins the frame-forming strip.

2. In a racket, the combination of a handle, a strip forming the frame of the racket, a wedge between the lower ends of the frameforming strip having a slit in its upper end, the frame-forming strip having slits formed therein extending above the points at which the upper end of the wedge joins the frameforming strip, and areinforcing-piece inserted in the slit of the wedge and in both slits of the frame-forming strip and extending in the frame-forming strip above the points at which the wedge joins the side-forming strip.

3. In a racket, the combination of a handle, a strip bent to oval shape to form the frame of the racket having its ends brought into the handle, a wedge between said ends having a slit in its upper end, the frame-forming strip having slits formed therein extending above the points at which upper end of the wedge joins the frame-formingStrip, anda reinforcing-piece inserted in the slit of the wedge and in one of the slits of the frame-forming strip and extending in the frame -forming strip above the point at which the wedge joins the frame-forming strip.

This specification signed and witnessed this th day of February, A. D. 1904.

- WILLIAM RIOHEY. In presence of- G. A. WARKE, F C. BREAKSPEAR. 

